Niantic’s Pokemon Go (Free) is already the biggest mobile game in the US, and it seems excitement surrounding the Japanese launch could not possibly be more than it is right now. Since the cultural impact of Pokemon Go (at least in the countries its available in) has been unmistakable, my favorite Pokemon Go news now involves all the insanity orbiting the game in the business world. (Like yesterday’s announcement of a Pokemon movie.) Anyway, we’ve already known that when the game finally launches in Japan, Pokemon Go and McDonalds are going to do a joint promotion. People suspect this means McDonalds locations in Japan will all be Pokestops, or potentially gyms. Speculation ran wild as to what a tie-in with Pokemon Go could mean for McDonalds’ Japanese profits, which resulted in their stock rocketing to a 15 year high… All because of a totally ambiguous and mysterious tie-in with Pokemon Go.

It makes you wonder at what point we’ll hit peak Pokemon Go. Internet curmudgeons are already racing to proclaim the fad as passed, but both download and revenue charts say otherwise. With the game still not available in most areas of the world, it seems reasonable to assume Pokemon Go has much further to climb before beginning to fall. Everything the game even vaguely touches turns to gold, so, we’ll just have to see which lucky business gets a sniff of that Pokemon Go success next.

[via WSJ]